Qualifying - Alonso delivers Monza pole for Ferrari
11 Sep 2010

Fernando Alonso gave the tifosi what they came to Monza for on Saturday, as he pipped McLaren's Jenson Button to pole position for the talian Grand Prix. The Spaniard took over setting the pace in Q2, and went faster still in Q3, clocking the only sub-1m 22s lap with 1m 21.962s for Ferrari on his first run in the final session. He failed to improve on that, as a good jump forward by Button, who unlike his team mate opted to run his MP4-25 in high-dowforce trim, left the reigning champion second on the grid with 1m 22.084s.

Felipe Massa backed his team mate with 1m 22.293s in the second Ferrari, with Mark Webber jumping ahead of McLarens Lewis Hamilton on their second runs when Hamilton had a slide in the first chicane and failed to improve. Webber lapped his Red Bull in 1m 22.433s to Hamiltons 1m 22.623s, while Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel couldnt better 1m 22.675s for sixth.

Seventh was very closely fought as Nico Rosberg lapped his Mercedes in 1m 23.027s to Nico Hulkenbergs 1m 23.037s for Williams and Robert Kubicas 1m 23.039s for Renault. Rubens Barrichello completed the top 10 with 1m 23.328s in the second Williams.

As Alonso set the pace with 1m 22.297s to pip Button and Hamilton in Q2, Adrian Sutil found himself bumped when Nico Rosberg improved, leaving the Force ndia driver 11th on 1m 23.199s. Mercedes GPs Michael Schumachers efforts to improve came up short with 1m 23.388s, leaving him 12th ahead of Kamui Kobayashis BMW Sauber on 1m 23.659s, Sebastien Buemis 1m 23.681s for Toro Rosso, Vitaly Petrovs 1m 23.819s for Renault, Jaime Alguersuaris 1m 23.919s for Toro Rosso and Pedro de la Rosa on 1m 24.044s in the second BMW Sauber.

The only real surprise in Q1, when Massa set the pace with 1m 22.421s from Alonso, was that Vitantonio Liuzzis litany of trouble at Force ndia continued. As he did only one run of three laps for 1m 25.774s that left him behind the Lotuses in 20th place. Hed told the team in the morning that a fresh engine felt odd, and it seized its bottom end soon after Q1 began.

Jarno Trulli was 18th on 1m 25.540s with Lotus team mate Heikki Kovalainen shadowing him on 1m 25.742s. After Liuzzi, Timo Glock was Virgins lead runner with 1m 25.934s ahead of team mate Lucas di Grassi on 1m 25.974s. Glock, however, will get a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox replacement. Petrov also received a five-place grid penalty for impeding him in the first chicane early in Q1.

Bruno Senna recorded 1m 26.847s for HRT in 23rd, with team mate Sakon Yamamoto much closer than previously on 1m 27.020s for 24th.

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